Flyers best Blues 4-1 for season-high 5th straight win

Philadelphia Flyers' Brayden Schenn, left, and Vincent Lecavalier celebrate after Schenn's goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Saturday, March 22, 2014, in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 4-1. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Flyers' Luke Schenn, right, collides with St. Louis Blues' Steve Ott during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 22, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA — Through a variety of official hurdles Saturday, most supplied by model whistleblower Francois St. Laurent, the Flyers and the St. Louis Blues managed to play a game worthy of two true Stanley Cup challengers.

That the Flyers are not only competing in games like these but winning them shows how far they have come this season.

Behind a balanced scoring effort and a rock-solid third period by goalie Steve Mason, the Flyers took down the NHL-leading Blues, 4-1, at Wells Fargo Center.

Scott Hartnell, Brayden Schenn, Jake Voracek and Wayne Simmonds shared the scoring chores on this day for the Flyers, and Claude Giroux added a pair of assists that were uncharacteristically overshadowed by something he didn’t do ...

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He failed to get on referee St. Laurent’s good side.

So Giroux was whistled for four minor penalties on a day in which the teams combined for 18 minor infractions, the Flyers gaining an edge (10-8) in that department, too.

“I’ve got to do a better job of not taking penalties,” Giroux said. “Four penalties is not acceptable. Personally, I’m pretty frustrated with myself. But the (penalty kill) did a good job to save me. I’m pretty thankful for them.”

That should be a given with the Flyers, who have been pretty steady in their ability to have their penalty kill not only keep them on an even keel ... but change games.

As the Blues went oh-for-6 on this day, there was another occasion to celebrate that.

“They did a real good job,” coach Craig Berube said of his penalty killers. “They did a good job up ice and just reads in zone and shot blocks and all the little things they do when you’re killing penalties.”

Also helping out was Mason, who in making 32 saves saved his best for the last period. Certainly opposing coach Ken Hitchcock noticed.

“We were really good in the first and then didn’t outwork the goalie in the third,” ex-Flyers mentor Hitchcock said. “You’re down 2-1 and have the chances you get in the third period, you have to outwork the goalie. I thought his level of compete was harder than ours in and around the net area and we couldn’t get the second and third chances that we probably needed to. We hit a lot of goal posts and crossbars but I don’t think we had the second and third chances as the game wore on that we did in the first period.”

Maybe the Blues were simply worn down by the frustration that built with every power play chance. If anything, St. Laurent’s overly officious use of his whistle all afternoon long only seemed to make the Flyers more determined than ever to beat another premier opponent, this one being a Blues team (47-16-7, 101 points) that entered with the best record in the NHL.

The victory was a season-high fifth straight for the Flyers (38-25-7, 83 points). Five in a row against NHL big boys Pittsburgh (twice), Chicago, Dallas and St. Louis?

“You could see the schedule we had coming up. It was pretty heavy: a lot of games, a lot of great teams,” Brayden Coburn said. “It’s cliche, but it’s a one game at a time approach. And (Berube) keeps telling us we’re a good team and we can beat anybody if we bring our A-game.”

The Flyers probably deserved nothing more than a B-plus against the Blues, but because of Mason and the penalty kill, that was more than enough. But it was the Blues who jumped on the board first via some aggressive penalty killing.

It was unintentionally set up by Steve Downie, who didn’t think to look up in time before skating right into Patrik Berglund’s back. Downie hit Berglund’s shoulder pad face-first, and promptly left with a suspected concussion.

What that did was put Zac Rinaldo on the third line, and he immediately contributed with a fine acting job that St. Laurent saw as a Barret Jackman tripping penalty.

On the ensuing power play, Andrew MacDonald ran into trouble deep in the St. Louis zone and the Blues broke back 2-on-1, with Jaden Schwartz scoring a shorthanded goal at 6:23.

The Flyers couldn’t get that goal back before the intermission despite another power play opportunity ... and stayed just a goal down despite two Giroux minor penalties on the same play.

“We had 16 or 18 minutes or something like that in penalties and I don’t think we want to do that to ourselves,” Hartnell said of the Flyers’ top-line penalty taking. “But hats off to our penalty killers.”

It was on a Flyers power play, however, that they got the game tied. Voracek made a nice look instead of a quick shot, and he found Hartnell alone in the slot, and he beat Ryan Miller just 57 seconds into the second for 1-1.

Then the fine forechecking team of Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds began to gear up. It was Simmonds with a great backcheck turned steal in the neutral zone, then he worked a give and go that saw Schenn slam a shot past Miller at 13:24 to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

Mason would be called on to protect it through a few Blues power play chances late in the second and into the third period. A couple of pucks went off posts, then with just over nine minutes left, he flat out robbed Derek Roy on consecutive shots that could have been tying goals.

Finally, Giroux let out any frustration he might have built in the penalty box with a tenacious forecheck into the St. Louis zone. He got the puck to Voracek, who drilled a shot inside the post with 4:19 left in regulation for an insurance goal.